Old-timer recalls when Bears, Packers really hated each other

CHICAGO – Nursing a cold glass of Schlitz draft at The Billy Goat Tavern under Michigan Avenue, Adalbert Styczynski lamented how the Bears-Packers rivalry isn’t as bitter as it was during the days when George Halas would heckle Packers players who got tackled near the Bears sideline.

Players and coaches from both teams talked last week about how they have “mutual respect.”

“As a team, we don’t personally hate (the Packers) as much as, hey, we understand the significance to our city, to our fans of beating them,” Chicago tight end Greg Olsen said.

Styczynski doesn’t recall hearing that kind of talk when he attended Bears-Packers games at Wrigley Field years ago.

“There isn’t the hatred like there used to be,” said Stycyznski, who put his age at around 70. “In the old days, you wouldn’t see anyone wearing Green Bay colors in Chicago. They’d hunt you down. Now you see as many Cheeseheads as you see Bears fans.”

Things were also heated during the 1980s when Mike Ditka coached the Bears. He once had to be separated from his counterpart on the Green Bay sidelines, Forrest Gregg.

“When Forrest Gregg coached…it became dirty football,” Ditka told the Chicago Tribune. “They tried to hurt (Matt) Suhey. They tried to hurt (Walter) Payton. They tried to hurt (Jim) McMahon. That was bull. It never happened with Bart Starr there or anybody else.”